What usenet server do you use?

Provider: Eweka Indexer: Geek
- Same here. Would recommend both!

What exactly is the appeal of Usenet when almost everything is available through torrents for free? I also never really understood trusting giving out your payment information.
Do people use Usenet as forums besides the ability to share files?
- The main feature is that you’ll never have problem with too few or no seeders again, and everything will be fast always, and no one will ask or expect you to seed. Some have retention period on the content for like a decade.
  
  But if the uploader stops hosting the file everyone loses the ability to download?
- usenet is almost always faster, there's never an issue with torrent lacking seeds and it's theoretically safer as you do not upload any content when downloading which if you do download a lot using torrents will put you in a certain legal grey area about distributing files.
  but aside from all of that the integration with the arr stack and the automation makes it just so much more god damned convenient.
- I prefer it since I can max out my connection so it is much faster. I can download a 10GB movie in a matter of minutes. Also much easier to integrate with sonarr and radarr imo. And you don't have the hassle of having to need a good download/upload ratio.
  
  I didn’t realize Usenet was so fast compared to a torrent with many seeders. What makes Usenet so much faster?

Frugal Usenet

I'm probably about average when it comes to tech stuff. I always feel dumb when I start looking into getting started with usenet, then get intimidated and quit researching. My torrent + vpn has failed me a couple of times in the past three years. So I really just need to make the leap. Just finding this community and reading through some of the posts has given me an initiative boost.
- This comment is me, last year. Its really not that hard don't let it intimidate you! All you really need is 3 things:
  Download Client. Usenet has file size limits, so files are broken into zip archives. A download client such as SABnzbd will automatically unpack for you.
  Usenet provider. Such as Eweka (Based in Europe) or Newshosting. This will cost about 5-10 bucks a month.
  Usenet indexer. Indexer is used for searching usenet. Think pirate bay. I personally use https://nzbgeek.info. NZB geek costs 1 dollar a month or 80 for a lifetime membership.
  Yeah usenet costs money, but god damn its such a premium experience. Every single download is going to cap out your connection, never wait for seeds again.
  
  This is great. Thank you very much! I found a couple of "how to" elsewhere but they are so long and go into details I don't need right now.
  
  Do you use a vpn with usenet? Is it even necessary as you aren't hosting like with torrents?
  Have you found it easier to find less popular titles/things that there just doesn't seem to be seeded torrents for?
  I recently added Ombi to my setup, allowing my users to request media; now I'm getting more and more requests for media I just haven't been able to find.

Is it just me or is usenet a bit expensive? One would need to pay for both an indexer and a provider. Regular public trackers have majority of the content for, well, free. Is obscure stuff on Usenet easier to find?
- i wouldnt waste my time with torrents now. it is one of those things hard to explain but once you make the jump for yourself you will just know and wish you did it long ago. if you are all in for under a $100 per year, i dont consider that expensive at all.
  
  Agree! I turned on the arr/nzbget/nzbhydra/Emby docker stack several years ago and it just works. I add content from my phone and it's downloaded and organized in Emby within 10 minutes. I started with several providers and indexers at first and whittled it down to Eweka (Omicron)/Newsdemon (Usenetexpress) for providers and Geek/Drunkenslug/althub for indexers.
  
  that's $100 too much for me
- Not having to worry about seeders/leeches, ratios, using a VPN, or waiting to download is worth the $6 for everything I pay per month. I can get a 10gb movie in a matter of a few minutes. Once you experience Usenet for yourself, it's really hard to go back to mucking about with torrents. Feels like the dark ages.
  As for obscure stuff, yeah, you can still download anything on the server at full speed, no matter how old it is. Most servers have 3-5000 days retention. Never had any trouble finding a TV show, and the oldest I've personally downloaded is a 10 year old show, which of course I downloaded as fast as my connection could handle. No searching for a torrent that's not dead, as long as it's still there, it downloads. No wait, no hassle, just click a button in Sonarr/Radarr and and 30 seconds later I'm watching it.
  
  Sounds like usenet isn't something for me then.. I think 90% of our movie/tv library is more than 10 years old
- It's just you. I get easynews for $45 a year on their valentine's plan, includes unlimited nntp, unlimited web (which is really useful given the search) and a free VPN to boot. Bargain of the century
  
  It’s easynews all in one? Just pay and go?

I think my provider is newsgroup direct and my indexer is nzbgeek

frugal usenet here as well but i have collected block accounts over the years that really never get used so they just sit there.
- Block accounts?
  
  Block accounts are a preset amount of gigabytes that you buy and then you can use them up as you see fit without a rebill every month or year and then buy more when you want.
- Are you me?
  
  im not sure, maybe you are actually me?

I use Eweka/usenetprime and use Nzbplanet/NzbGeek these days.

Frugal Usenet, I did the one that gets you the block storage then ended up adding more block storage after that ran up
- @radau @SomeBoyo I second this. Best bang for your buck on omicron backbone with a usenet.farm backup backbone. Take crypto payments too:
  https://billing.frugalusenet.com/agreement/crypto

Do you mean provider (the guys you pay so you can access usenet at all) or indexer (the guys who organize the files so you can find anything)
- Both

Newsgroup.ninja, because I support fellow ninjas and pirates.
Have a backup block on Usenet Farm which I've basically never needed.

Use night - it's by far the cheapest I've found (20 euro for a year). Gives you fast speeds at night and throttles during the day. Not an issue for me.

GigaNews for my procvider, NZBGeek and PlanetNZB for indexers.

Fastusenet.org
Usenight

When I first tried Usenet, I wanted something cheap so I could see if it was right for me. I haven't bothered to change since, so I use Frugal Usenet and Geek to index. Both work quite well for everything I've tried except ebooks.
- #bookz on undernet is great

I've been looking at eweka since mullvad removed port forwarding but i now have 1000/400 internet and like seeding so vpn recommendations are welcome (and indexers)
- No VPN necessary. Eweka and Geek is a great combination.

I have a Block News account that I add to every now and then. I haven't used it in a couple years since the indexer I was using shut down. Haven't really looked for a new indexer though.